The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of July 30, 2022

Saturday: The Perseid meteor shower peaks next week. But there will be an increased number of meteors over the next two weeks. If the Moon is out when you want to look, position yourself so you are in the Moon’s shadow. The meteors appear to come from a point just below the W of the constellation Cassiopeia. This point is about two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the northeast horizon at 11:00 p.m. By dawn, this point is about seven fists above the northeast horizon. If you fall asleep or forget to set your alarm, you will be able to observe this shower from about 11 p.m. to dawn for the next two weeks in about the same location in the sky. Early this week is the best time for viewing because the moon will not be bright enough or out long enough to obscure the dimmer meteors.

The Perseid shower is one of the longest lasting showers. For tips about optimizing your viewing this year, go to https://earthsky.org/?p=165416  As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment. These meteors are sand to pea-sized bits of rock that fell off of Comet Swift-Tuttle. They are traveling about 40 miles per second as they collide with the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.

Sunday: Jupiter and Saturn have made their way to “don’t have to stay up super late” viewing. Saturn rises a little after 9:00 p.m. and Jupiter rises a little before 11:00 p.m. By 11:30 p.m., Saturn is nearly two fists above the southeastern horizon and Jupiter is more than a half a fist above the eastern horizon.

Monday: Venus is one fist above the east-northeastern horizon at 5:00 a.m. Mars is four and a half fists above the southeastern horizon. Uranus is about a thumb width to the upper left of Mars. You’ll need binoculars to see it. For most binoculars, when Mars is near the center of your field of view, Uranus will be in the upper left portion of your field of view. It is the second brightest object in the area of the sky near Mars after Mars, itself.

Tuesday: Have you ever planned a vacation to a place because it was supposedly the up-and-coming locale? Then, when the vacation time finally arrives, you find out the place doesn’t live up to its billing? Five years ago this month, astronomers strengthened earlier findings that the star Tau Ceti, one of our closest neighbors at 12 light years away, has four planets classified as “super-Earths”. Two of the planets are in the so-called habitable zone where the temperature is just right for having liquid water on their surface. Time for a va-ca-tion! Well, not so fast. Astronomers have only a lower limit to the planet masses so they may be too massive for complex life to form. And the Tau Ceti system has ten times as much mass in dust and rocks as our own solar system. So you’ll want to do some research before you travel there. Tau Ceti is two and a half fists above the south-southeast horizon at 4:30 a.m., midway between the horizon and very bright Jupiter. For more information about the discovery, go tp https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/four-exoplanets-may-orbit-nearby-sun-like-star/.  

Wednesday: It is not winter yet. But Orion, thought of as a winter constellation, is just above the east-southeastern horizon at 5:00 a.m. By the actual winter, it will be visible in the evening sky. 

Thursday: Mizar is a well-known binary star in the constellation Ursa Major. You can find it at the bend in the Big Dipper handle, four fists above due northwest at 11:00 p.m. Its name is Arabic for waistband. Mizar has an optical double called Alcor, which is less than a pinky width away and can easily be seen with the naked eye. Optical doubles are stars that are close together in the sky but do not orbit a common center of mass as true binary stars. Not wanting to deceive sky gazers who call Alcor and Mizar a binary star, two stars that DO orbit a common center of mass, Mizar actually is a binary. It was the first binary star system discovered using a telescope. Mizar A and Mizar B are about 400 astronomical units apart from each other and about 80 light years from Earth. 400 astronomical units is about 10 times the distance between the Sun and Pluto.

Friday: Mercury is just above the west-northwestern horizon at 9:00 p.m.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.